#5Books: Book recs and well, the Sex Education trailer

Welcome back to our regularly scheduled blogging!

This past week, I found out about Sex Education, a Netflix comedy starring Gillian Anderson and Asa Butterfield — here’s the trailer:

I am here for Gillian Anderson’s platinum blonde sex therapist mum, and I think this is going to be a hilarious! I LOVE how diverse her career has been post-The X-Files and one day I promise myslef I will be able to afford something from her clothing collection.

But enough fashion! Here are the first set of book recs grabbing my attention this year!

The bloody murder of Sir Henry Claybourne leaves Regency London shaken and horror-struck. But for genteel spinster Miss Emmeline St. Germaine, the crime slices far too close to home. Just hours before the knight’s death she held a dagger to him, threatening him to stay silent as she rescued a scullery maid he had procured for his pleasure.

Did the man—or woman—who murdered the knight know of her visit? Her secret identity at risk, her reputation and life in jeopardy, Emmeline must solve the crime or face scandalous exposure and ruination, or worse—the hangman’s noose—for a crime she did not commit.

What this blurb doesn’t say is that Emmeline goes about rescuing women like the scullery maid in the the blurb — that’s what made me want to read this book, only to find it not exactly mentioned in the book blurb. But, a mystery and a woman that seems to be defying everything about the conventions of her society? Gimme.

In this charming, witty, and weird fantasy novel, Alexis Hall pays homage to Sherlock Holmes with a new twist on those renowned characters.

Upon returning to the city of Khelathra-Ven after five years fighting a war in another universe, Captain John Wyndham finds himself looking for somewhere to live, and expediency forces him to take lodgings at 221b Martyrs Walk. His new housemate is Ms. Shaharazad Haas, a consulting sorceress of mercurial temperament and dark reputation.

When Ms. Haas is enlisted to solve a case of blackmail against one of her former lovers, Miss Eirene Viola, Captain Wyndham finds himself drawn into a mystery that leads him from the salons of the literary set to the drowned back-alleys of Ven and even to a prison cell in lost Carcosa. Along the way he is beset by criminals, menaced by pirates, molested by vampires, almost devoured by mad gods, and called upon to punch a shark.

But the further the companions go in pursuit of the elusive blackmailer, the more impossible the case appears. Then again, in Khelathra-Ven reality is flexible, and the impossible is Ms. Haas’ stock-in-trade.

Yes, this is sci-fi and yes, the Sherlock character is female and a sorcerer — and I am hoping former lover is the Irene Adler character. The last line though, where reality is flexible? Yeah, I want to see where this goes.

Hot pursuit, run-and-gun action, and a romantic obsession at the center of it all.

WHAT IF you reached out on the internet to that long-ago crush you had in high school…and she turned out to be a contract assassin with you on her hit list?

WHAT IF you viewed these outrageous events through the lens of cinema, making real life and reel life collide and turning your own narrative into a Hollywood free-for-all?

WHAT IF you tumbled into an underworld where no one is who they say they are…where no one can be trusted…and everyone is out for blood from someone else?

Especially you.

Could fearing for your life be the ultimate aphrodisiac?

THE BIG CRUSH is a contemporary urban thriller. A modern Los Angeles noir. Black ops. Murder for hire. And a love story about people invisible to the citizens of the ordinary, waking world.

So this cover isn’t the best, but this blurb sounds crazy and I need to see what happens. And also: haven’t you wondered about your high school crushes? (I once found my high school crush on facebook and found myself wondering why was he my crush again?)

Silence of the Lambs meets Candyman in this chilling serial killer story.

Twenty years ago, four teenagers entered the woods, hoping to find to the supposed home of the Bone Keeper. Only three returned. Now, a woman is found wandering the streets, horrifically injured, claiming to have fled the Bone Keeper. Investigating officer DC Louise Henderson must convince skeptical colleagues that this evil urban myth might be flesh and blood. But when a body is unearthed, the case takes on a much darker tone…

Alright, the only reason a blurb with Silence of the Lambs on is here, is because I’ve given myself permission to skip any Silence of the Lamb-y parts, as opposed to skimming because I am bored. Works right? Also, this just sounds damn good.

I’ll murder three strangers. And you’ll know it was me. That way we’ll all be connected. Always.

When Will jokes about becoming a serial killer, his friends just laugh it off. But Adeline can’t help but feel there’s something more sinister lurking behind his words.

Fifteen years later, Adeline returns to Blythe for a reunion of the old gang – except Will doesn’t show up. Reminiscing about old times, they look up the details of his supposed murder spree. But the mood soon changes when they discover two recent deaths that match.

As the group attempt to track Will down, they realise that he is playing a sinister game that harks back to one they used to play as kids. Only this time there are lives at stake…

So, this is a reunion you never want to have. Friendships like this — you know where someone from a group turns murderous — seem to be a genre popping up more and more these days. This one sounds positively creepy, and by that I mean Will in particular who also sounds positively gleeful at his ambition to become a serial killer.

I think The Killer You Know is one that sticks with me the most, because of Will and his desire to be a serial killer.

14 Comments

haha when I first at the image on the trailer I though it was Harley Quinn! I’ll have to check out that show! Sounds good! and oh wow doesn’t the bone Keeper sounds fantastic! “Silence of the Lambs meets Candyman” YES!